THE reintroduction of Armagh’s All-Ireland winners Aidan Forker, Ben Crealey and Ciaran Higgins into the Maghery fold has been a major boost to their championship fortunes according to club stalwart Stefan Forker.
Higgins has been sidelined through injury recently, although he is set to return soon, while Orchard skipper Aidan Forker, along with Crealey, have carried their inter-county form into the club campaign.
Maghery held onto their senior status by the skin of their teeth in the league but won two of their three group games in the championship, beating Division 1A winners Clann Eireann and St Peter’s following their first-round loss to Madden.
Two wins would usually be enough to finish at least second in the group, but with two other teams winning two games each, scoring difference consigned Maghery to third place behind Madden and the Clann Eireann.
That leaves them in the play-offs and the two-time title winners will face Division 1B league champions Mullaghbawn – a side they’ve met twice this season already – on Friday night
“The morale probably wasn’t great within the camp in terms of numbers and injuries, and we were sitting precariously in the league,” said Forker, who was involved with the Armagh minors this year as they reached the Ulster and All-Ireland finals.
“Once Armagh came through the whole build-up, club football nearly took a back seat, and it was a good distraction. Everybody got behind the boys and when they came back in, it was like a new year.
“Obviously Ben and Aidan were coming back in in good form in terms of their playing and they’ve continued that for us, and we hope to have Ciaran back very shortly, he’s a brilliant club player.”
“I think Armagh’s system is very good,” added Forker.
“We’re happy with the format of the championship, I know we probably were the unluckiest team in it the way it transpired but I think the system is good.
“The way Armagh went late into the year and have been doing for the past few years, you need those games in the league format. If it was straight knock-out, you wouldn’t have any time to bed in your county men, so it works for us that way.
“Even for the development of teams, you know you have three important games at this time of the year, you’re not going to get knocked out first round, so I’m a big advocate of it. We finished third but we built up a decent bit of momentum and performances were very good.”
Mullaghbawn gained promotion to the top tier in the league, so Forker knows their threat. However, with the quick turnaround and the week-on-week approach of the Armagh SFC, Maghery don’t have too long to get hung up on their opponents.
“They definitely have a certain formula in how they play and they’re very good at it,” Forker continued. “They’ve all bought into it obviously and we know what to expect on Friday night.
“It’s just going to be how well we execute what we’re going to do and how we can break them down. You concentrate on yourself mostly and you make a few tweaks for playing them.
“A lot of the players know what to expect. The biggest problem with the quick turnaround is injuries and getting refreshed if you have picked up anything. There are positives to it too as in you keep the momentum going and I’d be all for matches week to week, to be honest.”